Glacier volume change forecasts

Glacier volume change forecasts

Use constraints

This graphic may be reproduced in any form of educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the GRID-Arendal, provided acknowledgement of the source is made.
GRID-Arendal would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that features this graphic.

No use of this graphic may be made for resale or any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from GRID-Arendal.
Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to grid@grida.no.

For any form of publication, please include the link to this page and give the cartographer/designer credit (in this case Riccardo Pravettoni)

Fill in the form below to request permission

Name

Email

Purpose

Spam control

+
=

Enter your Name, Email and the Purpose of use

Source(s)

Description:
Oerlemans et al. (1998) conducted modelling experiments for a sample of 12 glaciers and ice caps, to determine volume changes under a range of temperature and precipitation forcings (Fig. 3). The range of glacier response is very wide, so a key issue is fnding ways to upscale the results of modelling this tiny sample of glaciers to large regions. Figure 2 shows the results of two alternative weighting procedures. Although the
absolute values of volume change differ, the results imply that with a warming rate of 0.04° C yr–1 (4° C per century) and no increase in precipitation, little glacier ice would be left by 2100, whereas if warming is restricted to 0.01° C yr–1 and precipitation increases by 10% per degree of warming, then ice losses will be restricted to 10 to 20% of the 1990 value. It must be emphasized that the results are far from certain, and that the actual response of glaciers will exhibit considerable regional variability.

QanatA qanat is a water management system used to secure reliable water supply to human settlements or irrigation in semi-arid and arid regions. Probably originating in Persia, the qanat system has been adopted and developed ...

By Riccardo Pravettoni

Recent flood events in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya regionSince Asia comprises a large portion of the World’s popula-
tion, and more than 40% of all the foods in the world occur
in Asia, a large number of people are affected by disasters
(Fig. 14). More than 40% of the peo...

By Riccardo Pravettoni

Seasonal patterns of precipitation and runoffThe infuence of glaciers on seasonal distribution of river
fow is strongly dependent on annual temperature and precipitation cycles, and the proportion of the catchment occupied by glacier ice. Figure 4 compares precip...

By Riccardo Pravettoni

Glacier recession and expansion in Hindu Kush-Himalayas and Central AsiaAveraged over their entire areas, within the period 1960–
2003 glaciers in Patagonia and Alaska have thinned by ap-
proximately 35 m and 25 m, respectively, whereas high
mountain glaciers in Asia have thinned by over...

By Riccardo Pravettoni

Glacier shrinkage in hypothetical river basinsDownstream variation in the impact of glacier recession is
illustrated in Figure 5, which shows modelled river fows for
idealized catchments under climates representative of the
western and eastern Himalaya and a 0....

By Riccardo Pravettoni

Glacier cumulative mass balanceCompilation of available data (Fig. 1) shows that most mountain glaciers are losing mass, and that the overall rate of mass loss has increased in the last decade. For the last decade the highest mass loss per unit area h...

By Riccardo Pravettoni

Glacier Lake Outburst FloodsCumulative frequency graph of GLOFs in Nepal,
Bhutan and Tibet. The best-ft line suggests an increase in
GLOF frequency through time, although older events may be
under-reported. GLOFs also took place in Patagonia,...

By Riccardo Pravettoni

Regional flood vulnerabilitySince Asia comprises a large portion of the World’s popula-
tion, and more than 40% of all the foods in the world occur
in Asia, a large number of people are affected by disasters
(Fig. 14). More than 40% of the peo...